NAL Publishes New Editions of Agricultural Thesaurus,
Glossary

The USDA National Agricultural
Library (NAL) has published 2008
editions of its NAL Agricultural Thesaurus (NALT) and Glossary of
Agricultural Terms in both Spanish and English. The update is published
collaboratively with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on
Agriculture (IICA).

NAL, the world's foremost research library focused on agriculture, is part
of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief
scientific research agency.

The 2008 edition of the Agricultural Thesaurus and Glossary adds about 70
new definitions in Spanish and English, with expanded terminology associated
with fuels, chocolate manufacture, bodies of water, the U.S. National Forest
System, and acronyms used in the taxonomic classification of viruses.

The Thesaurus and Glossary Web site features a new format presenting
parallel English and Spanish language interfaces, enabling users to search and
read all background materials in either language.

It also features a "Download Files" page enabling users to
download the thesaurus and glossary files in an array of formats. A
"Contact us" page is also included where users can propose terms to
be added to the thesaurus and glossary.

The NALT is a key component for organizing and describing agricultural
information, and the indexing vocabulary for NAL's AGRICOLA bibliographic
database of citations to agricultural resources. It is used throughout NAL, by
the Agriculture Network Information Center (AgNIC), and within Web sites and databases of
other USDA science agencies.

The NAL published Spanish language versions of the NALT (Tesauro
Agrícola) and Glossary (Glosario) in May 2007, supporting increased
Spanish-language access to agricultural information throughout the United
States and the world. Publishing the NALT in both languages makes it a valuable
bilingual reference tool. Organizations using the NALT terms can easily add a
Spanish language capability to their agricultural information applications.

NAL staff originally prepared the NALT to meet the needs of ARS scientists,
publishing the First Edition on January 1, 2002. The thesaurus is updated each
year.

IICA is a specialized agency of the Inter-American System, established to
encourage and support efforts of member states to achieve agricultural
development and well-being for rural populations.